Ultranormal

  • On Morale

    In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget–but never shows up in a budget–is morale. [what’s true for a movie is true for a startup!] If you have low morale, for every \$1 you spend, you get about 25 cents of value. If you have high morale, for every \$1 you spend, you get about \$3 of value. Companies should pay much more attention to morale.\
    I’ve had this quote pretty much plastered in my subconscious for the past month. It’s from Brad Bird, the guy who directed The Incredibles. You can read more from the interview over at Om’s site.\
    You could replace “movie” with “project” or “product” and I think it’s still true. It’s next to impossible to motivate an team with crappy morale. It’s like trying to light a campfire in the rain with just matches. Having a high-morale team is like lighting a campfire covered in kerosene. You just need a match, and then stand back.

  • Kevin works hard for his money, so hard for his money…

    They say you shouldn’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry or else you’ll spend a fortune and buy everything. Well, apparently you shouldn’t go toy shopping when happy and energetic or else you’ll spend a fortune and buy everything. I finished up Brian’s birthday shopping today and went way overboard. I even bought stuff for Max! And stuff for our summer vacation! Mm, nothing for Kevin or me though. Drat. I should go back out, yes?

  • Max’s schoolwork, holiday edition

    Why Mom Is So Special\
    My mom is so kind and caring. She is loving with fifty-million cups of helpful. She is so thoughtful that a gallon of pure thoughtfulness is less thoughtful than my mom is. She works hard at keeping me healthy, safe, and happy. She’s a 170110! I trust her so much I let her now [know?] a secret that puts me at risk.\
    Love,\
    Max

  • Almost Made the Top Ten

    The ratings from this year’s SxSW panels are out and the panel I moderated, Career Transitions: From DIY to Working for The Man was the 14th-ranked panel of the whole conference (out of 105)! We got a 4.55 out of 5 overall. It was a lot of fun and, of course, the panelists should get most of the credit: Jason Garber, Leslie Jensen-Inman, Cindy Li, and Thomas Vander Wal.\
    Now, I need to figure out what I’m doing next year….

  • Max’s schoolwork 2

    Favorite Food Mom Makes\
    What is it: Macaroni and Cheese.\
    How it is made: take a plastic thing mac n’ cheese and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.\
    ****\
    She is so nice and she is honest to me. She let’s me have reading time before bed. She is like 2170 pounds of nice with reduced gravity.

  • Max’s schoolwork

    I just pulled this out from Max’s bag. This is the paper in its entirety, emphasis mine though:\
    I was in kindergarden [sic]. Later, I went to Hawaii. Technecly [sic], I was going to the Hawaiian Islands. I stayed for two weeks. They were the best 2 weeks of my life. We lived in a house where we got dirty feet if we went barefoot. Before we got to rent the house, we went to a place. My brother and I went to a playground. On one of my last few days there I went to McDonald’s (which I only regret only because of the recipe) and later, I left. It was great. I wish it could happen again.

  • I love presents!

    I received a call today from UPS informing me that a package would be arriving sometime today and it requires my signature. Wheee. Mother’s Day is right around the corner and then my birthday is a week later. I wonder what Kevin bought me. Can’t wait, can’t wait.\
    Wait a minute. Brian’s birthday is coming up too (before mine, actually). So the package is probably his present. DRAT.

  • Brian

    Brian making a really cute face

    One of my favorite things about being a parent is making my kids make faces. I taught Brian how to do “blue steel” (go watch Zoolander). And with my fancy new camera, he looks like a star, doesn’t he?

  • A Musical Interlude

    This week has been one to forget at Chez Lawver. Jen, Brian and I have all had the stomach flu, and it hasn’t been pretty. So, as a break from the disgusting offal-ness of it all, here are some musical recommendations for your Friday afternoon. These are all things I’ve picked up in the last couple of months, many of which are Canadian. I blame the recent Northern influence on my iTunes library on CBC Radio 3 and their wicked podcasts.

    • Holy Fuck – I prefer LP to their self-titled album, but this is some wicked butt-moving stuff. If you crossed Beck with The Chemical Brothers and took away the lyrics, you’d have Holy Fuck (sorry mom, that’s really their name).
    • R.E.M.‘s Accelerate – I love the band’s early albums, especially Document, but this is a return to that style of garage awesomeness. Absolutely fantastic stuff, especially Supernatural Superserious.
    • Sunparlour Players‘ Hymns for the Happy – I first heard If the Creeks Don’t Rise on one of the CBC podcasts. It’s just good folksy rock – no pretense, just great vocals, lots of instruments and some harmonies.
    • The Polyphonic Spree – Jen calls them “Up With People for grownups”, and I’m OK with that. They’re an alt-rock band backed by a horn section, a full choir and sometimes strings, and they sing some seriously happy stuff. My current favorite, though, is their cover of Nirvana’s Lithium.
    • And only because I can’t remember posting it before, Great Lake Swimmers‘ Ongiara is one of the most beautiful albums I’ve ever heard. It’s acoustic and the lead singer’s voice is hypnotic. Where in the World Are You is one of my all-time favorite songs. It’s heartbreakingly romantic and forlorn and never fails to choke me up.\
      There you go. That should keep you busy for a while. And yes, those all go to the Amazon MP3 store. It’s cheaper than the iTunes store, and they give you mp3’s instead of annoyingly locked down AAC files. Enjoy!

  • What’s up, yo?

    Someone please explain to me why Brian just threw up, seven hours after eating a small bit of plain pasta and 20 hours after his last barfing bout. I THOUGHT HE WAS BETTER!